water Archives - ChicoSol News

Tuscan Water District to levy fee that will finance operations

Large landowners who favored fee had more voting clout

by Leslie Layton | Posted February 13, 2025

photo courtesy of Tuscan Water District

Approved TWD map

The recently-formed Tuscan Water District (TWD) is now in the budget planning stage after winning the right to levy a special assessment fee on landowners within district boundaries.

In an election held last month, TWD won the support it sought for a fee of up to $6.46/acre to be paid by landowners whose votes were weighted based on the number of acres owned. That was in accordance with California law that allows weighted voting in special districts, said TWD General Manager Tovey Giezentanner.

Giezentanner said the fee could raise up to about $620,000 a year that would pay for “general expenses, not around a specific project, but to fulfill the mission of the district.” read more

Controversial Tuscan Ridge rolls forward

County supes vote in favor of Skyway housing project

by Yucheng Tang | Posted January 3, 2025

photo by Yucheng Tang

Butte County’s Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to move forward with Tuscan Ridge, but developer Mark West still has to meet conditions of approval.

Butte County’s supervisors have approved the controversial Tuscan Ridge housing project on the south side of Skyway, but the developer must still jump hurdles related to water, sewer and drainage.

The supervisors voted 4-1 Dec. 10 to move a project forward that will plant 165 single-family homes where the Tuscan Ridge Golf Course was once located between Chico and Paradise. After the Camp Fire, the site housed the PG&E base camp. The entire 163-acre project area will include six commercial lots and houses that are between 3,000 and 20,000 square feet in size.

Almost 16 acres of commercial lots will house facilities including a gas station, convenience store and a mini-storage facility. read more

PG&E canal failure under investigation

Were state officials notified in a timely manner?

by Leslie Layton | Posted August 16, 2023

This photo was taken by an observer of the devastation caused by the canal breach.

The failure of the PG&E-operated Butte Canal that caused a landslide into Butte Creek last week, turning the water a sludgy-orange, is under investigation by the law enforcement arm of the state’s Department of Fish & Wildlife.

“We’re very aware of the situation there,” said Peter Tira, an information officer for the department. “Butte Creek has the largest spring run of wild Chinook salmon in California, and that’s the reason we monitor it so closely.”

Tira said today that game wardens have so far found one carcass, but that doesn’t mean that more of the Chinook haven’t perished. The water began clearing after one and a half days, with the orange-ish sediment settling along the creek sides, but the creek middle is still murky, making the search for salmon challenging. read more

New groundwater fee approved for Chico property owners

State today approves groundwater sustainability plans for region

by Leslie Layton | Posted July 28, 2023

A groundwater management board charged with managing a large portion of Butte County’s water supply met a tide of resistance July 26 to a new fee that will be levied on Chico property owners.

The fee was approved by the Vina Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) Board in a 5-0 vote and set at $1.54 per acre for the 2023-24 property tax year. It will thus be almost unnoticeable for small-parcel owners, but ranchers who spoke at the public hearing, held in the Chico City Council chamber, objected that it was inherently unfair to large landowners who aren’t extracting water.

Ranch owner Billie Roney said she and her husband were “shocked” to learn the new fee was in the pipeline. “We’re not irrigating,” she told the Vina GSA board. “The fee structure is not fair. We just keep getting pummeled.” read more

Groundwater management tax faces protest election

Chico-area residents have only a few weeks if they wish to reject controversial fee

by Natalie Hanson and Leslie Layton | Posted July 1, 2023

Vina subbasin stretches from Durham to the northern Butte County border and includes Chico.

Chico-area property owners have through July 26 to reject a proposed new fee for groundwater management that will otherwise appear on their December tax bills.

The annual per-acre fee would fund and implement a new groundwater management plan for the area known as the Vina Subbasin. That subbasin, which holds a significant portion of Butte County’s water, stretches from the Durham area northward to the Butte County line and includes Chico.

The fee will appear on property tax bills if it’s not rejected in what’s called a “protest election” underway now. Property owners who are opposed can send a written protest by July 26 to Vina Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (see address at end of story) or voice their objection at a public hearing that day. read more

Deadline approaches to vote for or against Tuscan Water District

Some TWD residents say they had no chance to become board candidates

by Leslie Layton | Posted September 16, 2022

Landowners in the proposed Tuscan Water District received this ballot in the mail.

Ballots on whether to form the Tuscan Water District (TWD) in northwestern Butte County have been mailed to landowners — without any argument opposing a formation. The proposed district was the subject of debate for hours at public meetings earlier this year.

Only an argument in favor of formation of TWD -– which will have a landowner-based voting structure that will give the largest enterprises thousands of votes -– appears on the ballot that must be postmarked by Sept. 20. The ballot asks, with a single question, whether TWD should be approved with an annual parcel assessment of up to $10 per acre. Landowning voters can also choose nine people for the board of directors from a list of 11 candidates, most of whom are known already as TWD proponents. read more